|
|
|
Wednesday, September 08, 2010 - 04.26 GMT |
|
18th Amendment
enhances the people’s franchise – legal
analysts |
|
|
|
The provisions of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution that will be debated in parliament today will enhance the people’s franchise, by the specific provision of removing the ceiling on the number of terms an elected President could hold office, and giving the people a wider choice in the election of a President, is the view of leading many prominent legal analysts, especially leading lawyers who specialize in Constitutional Law.
By requiring the President to attend parliament on a periodically stipulated basis would make the President answerable to people in a more meaningful manner, ensuring that the President is brought into the process of parliament where the elected representatives of the people would be given an opportunity to address their concerns to him or her, these prominent lawyers and analysts state.
The Bill to Amend the Constitution, which obtained the assent of the Supreme Court to be considered as an Urgent Bill, and which the Supreme Court also determined as not requiring a referendum for passage but only a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives, will be taken up for debate in Parliament today ( 8).
The significant amendments to the Constitution proposed in the Bill are:
1. The provision to remove the stipulation of the maximum period for a person elected as President to hold office. The current maximum of two presidential terms is to be removed.
2. Change the composition, manner and functioning of the present Constitutional Council, established under the 17th Amendment, which will be hereinafter known as the Parliamentary Council, and comprising only Members of Parliament.
.
3. It also has provision requiring the President to be present in Parliament periodically – once in every three months.
Other provisions in the Bill redefine the functions of the Police Commission and the classification of Police Officers, including the Inspector General of Police, within the ambit of Public Officers; specifies the policy making powers of the Cabinet of Ministers, defines the composition and a specific demarcation of the powers of the Elections Commission during the time of an election, and has Transitional Provisions for the avoidance of doubt in interpretation.
Presidency
According to Legal Analysts and Constitutional Lawyers the amendment to remove the ceiling on the number of times a person may be elected as President would necessarily involve an enhancement of the franchise of the people, widening the choice of the people to elect a President for the country, and prevent candidates who the people may not consider the best choice for President at a given time, being thrust upon them for possible election.
The Amendment seeks to ensure that the President is present in Parliament on a periodically stipulated basis, which provision coupled with other provisions of Article 42 of the Constitution, would make the President answerable to people in a more meaningful manner, thus ensuring that the President is brought into the process of parliament where the elected representatives of the people would be given an opportunity to address their concerns to him or her.
Parliamentary Council
The provisions of this amendment seeks to ensure that the Executive Power reposed in the elected President is inalienable, and that any abdication of that power would be contrary to several Articles of the Constitution, as earlier held by the Supreme Court.
It is a widely held opinion among those knowledgeable in the law that subjecting the President to the process envisaged in the Constitutional Council as required by the 17th Amendment should be a directory process and not a mandatory one, as the latter interpretation would remove the executive power of the President temporarily, which would be contrary to earlier determinations of the Supreme Court.
The present amendment that seeks to establish a Parliamentary Council is a process of redefining the so-called restriction that was placed on the President by the Constitutional Council in the exercise of his inalienable executive power, and bring the consultative process envisaged by the 17th Amendment directly into the purview of the legislature. This is in contrast to what currently prevails that has resulted in the legislature abdicating the envisaged consultative process to persons outside the legislature.
It is noted that the process of selection of members who would constitute the Constitutional Council has resulted in a plethora of problems, making the process impracticable, leading to deadlock and the inability to appoint several Commissions.
Instead, the proposed Parliamentary Council will ensure the supremacy of parliament as it will comprise members selected by and Parliament, from among its members. There will be no Presidential representative in the proposed Council unlike the 10-member Constitutional Council stipulated in the 17th Amendment.
The envisaged five-member Parliamentary Council will have the Speaker, Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition and two other nominees from Parliament, approved by the Parliament, selected by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.
Elections Commission
The proposed amendment facilitates the appointment of an Elections Commission, and importantly also makes provision to ensure that a Deputy Commissioner of Elections could be appointed to carry on the functions of the Elections Commission, in the event the need arises. This is unlike the prevailing situation when the Elections Commissioner could not be replaced, or retire from office. It is a significant improvement from the impasse caused in the Elections Commission and the Office of the Commissioner of Elections due to the problems caused by the 17th Amendment, and will ensure that the franchise of the people will not be stifled until the Elections Commission is constituted.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Contact Information:: Send
mail to